MOROCCO

constitution: 10 March 1972, revised 4 September 1992 and amended in September 1996; new constitution approved in referendum 1 July 2011

legal system: based on French and Islamic law

legislative system: bicameral Parliament consists of an upper house (Chamber of Counselors) and a lower house (Chamber of Representatives)

judicial system: Supreme Court whose judges are appointed on the recommendation of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, presided over by the monarch

religion: Muslim majority

death row: 115, as of 19 february 208, according the President of the General Prosecutor, Mohamed Abdennabaoui

year of last executions: 0-0-1993

death sentences: 5

executions: 0

international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty) (only signed)

situation:

Morocco continues to observe the moratorium on executions that has been in place since 1993, in the knowledge that the abolition of capital punishment is the subject of intense debate among various sectors of Moroccan society.King Mohammed VI has not signed an execution decree since he took the throne on 23 July 1999. Since then, many people on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, a further sign towards the abolition of capital punishment in the country which had a stop after the attacks in Casalblanca. A new law approved by the Parliament in May 2003, extende the death penalty for crimes of terrorism. However, to this regard, on 19 August 2017, the Morocco's King Mohammed VI has granted pardon to 415 convicts found guilty of terrorism and another convict got his sentence reduced from death penalty to a 30-year prison term. The announcement came a day before Morocco's 64th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People.On 1 July 2011, the constitutional reforms called for by Mohammed VI were approved by a public referendum with a landslide 98% vote. Reforms included: freedom for political parties, the separation of the government’s executive from its judicial branch, women’s rights and minority rights. For the first time, the Constitution affirms life as a fundamental right.Since 2013, Morocco has embarked on a major reform of the justice system, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and international standards on the establishment of an independent, impartial judicial system that guarantees respect for human rights and the primacy of the law. The reform involves the drafting of two bills, on the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Criminal Code.The draft Criminal Code provides for a considerable reduction in the number of offences subject to the death penalty, down from 31 to 9. Under the new Military Courts Act, the number of such offences has dropped from 16 to 5. In that connection, under article 430 of the draft Code of Criminal Procedure, a death sentence may be pronounced only if the judges reach a unanimous verdict. Moreover, the record of their decision must state that the death sentence was unanimously agreed and must be signed by all the judges involved in the ruling.On 16 June 2014, addressing the two Houses of Parliament, the Chairman of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Driss El Yazami, stressed the need to implement the main institutional recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, including the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the abolition of the death penalty. Although this provided campaigners with some hope that the kingdom was moving towards abolishing capital punishment, Morocco's Islamist-led parliament has not yet done so. However, since 2013, 28 individuals had been sentenced to death. In 2016, the prison service reported a total of 92 prisoners under death row. On 19 February 2018, the President of the General Prosecutor Mohamed Abdennabaoui said, during a meeting with ambassadors in the kingdom, that Morocco currently has 115 condemned to death. This means that around 20 people have been sentenced to death in Morocco in 2017.During the third cycle of the UPR, civil society reported that 67% of prisoners who had been sentenced to death suffered from serious mental health problems. They are placed in solitary confinement and there is no right to receive visits established by law.Since 1973, only two people were put to death. The last execution took place in 1993 when Mohammed Tabet, Chief of Police and Chief of Intelligence of the country, was executed for abuses of power and the rape of hundreds of woman and girls.On 6 February 2017, Morocco’s High Religious Committee has retracted its Islamic ruling stating that apostasy is punishable by death and has decided to permit Muslims to change their religion.

United NationsIn May 2017, Morocco had its third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN. It was noted that Morocco had not yet ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, even though it had accepted the recommendation made in that regard at the time of its second universal periodic review.Morocco rejected the recommendation to immediately and completely abolish the death penalty. However, in September 2017, when the UN Working group report was published Morocco said that recommendations on death penalty will be examined and responses will be provided in due time, but no later than the thirty-sixth session of the Human Rights CouncilIn December 2016, Morocco abstained on the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.

Two Dutchmen were sentenced to death in Morocco for murder, the NOS reported on 27 July 2019. One person was killed in the shooting in Marrakech. Two others were injured.The murder in café La Crème took place in November 2017. The Dutch Shardyone S. (30) and Edwin RM (26) shot the 29-year-old son of a Moroccan judge, according to the NOS , while the target was criminal bar owner Mustapha el F..El F., who has both Dutch and Moroccan nationality, was also arrested and sentenced. He must have been in prison for 15 years, according to the NOS , but it is not clear what exactly he was convicted of.Two Dutchmen were arrested last year in the investigation into the fatal shooting. These are the two brothers of the wanted criminal Ridouan Taghi, who is seen as a leader in the Dutch cocaine mafia.

On the occasion of Eid Al Fitr, HM King Mohammed VI granted his pardon to 755 people sentenced by the different Moroccan courts, said a statement by the Justice ministry.The detained beneficiaries of the pardon are 576 and are divided into: 1 inmate who benefited from pardon over his remaining prison term; 554 prisoners who had their prison terms reduced; Sentences for 2 convicts were commuted from death penalty to life imprisonment; 19 inmates who had their prison sentences commuted from life imprisonment to fixed prison terms.The free beneficiaries of the pardon are 179 and are divided into: 48 prisoners who benefited from pardon over their remaining prison terms; 5 inmates who benefited from pardon over their imprisonment terms while their fines were maintained; 6 inmates who benefited from pardon over their prison terms and fines as well; 120 prisoners had their fines annulled.On this happy occasion, HM the King has granted his pardon to 11 of those convicted in cases of extremism and terrorism who participated in the third edition of the "Reconciliation" program (Musalaha), which responds to the requests for pardon that these detainees submit to HM the king after officially announcing their rejection of all forms of extremism and terrorism, and their firm commitment to the supreme values and sacredness of the Nation and national institutions.The beneficiaries of this royal initiative are divided into: 8 inmates who benefited from pardon over their remaining prison terms; 1 inmate who had his prison sentence commuted from life imprisonment to fixed prison terms; 2 prisoners who had their prison terms reduced.And on the same occasion, and in consideration of the family and human circumstances of the persons sentenced in connection with the events in the Al Hoceima and Jerada regions, and in fulfillment of the Royal will on all occasions, HM the King granted his royal pardon to several convicted persons who did not commit crimes and serious acts during these events, the number of whom is 107 and are divided into: 60 prisoners who were pardoned as part of the Al Hoceima region events; 47 inmates who were pardoned as part of the Jerada region events.

(Sources: mapnews.ma, 05/06/2019)

14 January 2019 :

The Ministry of Justice in Rabat on 13 January 2019 has announced that King Mohammed VI has graciously pardoned 783 prisoners as part of the celebrations for the 75th Anniversary of the Manifesto of Independence.It should be noted that this kind of ruling does not necessarily mean that the prisoners are completely released. Far from it, it actually results in a reduction in sentencing for most of the prisoners – though one lucky person this time has had his death penalty commuted to a life sentence.The ruling covered all areas and levels from the thirteen prisoners who have life terms reduced to shorter sentences, to the one hundred and forty-three who has their fines annulled.

Three men have been sentenced to death in Morocco for the Isis-inspired murder of two Scandinavian hikers in the Atlas mountains last December.The two victims, Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, were beheaded by a group of men who wanted to impress Islamic State. The three men confessed to their murder at a court in Salé, near Rabat.Morocco has not carried out an execution since 1993, but prosecutors called for the death penalty during the 11-week trial.Prosecutors said Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, a street vendor and underground imam, was the ringleader and admitted to killing one of the women, and Younes Ouaziyad, 27, a carpenter, confessed to the other murder. The third man, Rachid Afatti, 33, videoed the murders on his phone.

The Moroccan Coalition Against the Death Penalty has reiterated its call to the government to remove the death penalty from the country’s Penal Code.During a meeting with his general assembly on 18 January 2019 in Rabat in the presence of justice minister Mohamed Aujjar, the coalition’s coordinator, Abderrahim El Jamii, stressed the need to“fight” for human rights and abolish the death penalty.El Jamii urged Aujjar to join the Moroccans calling for abolition, while emphasizing that the minister’s attendance at the meeting gave hope and opened a new “political and human rights chapter.”El Jamii, on behalf of the coalition, pointed out the incompatibility between Article 20 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life to all human beings and the Penal Code, which allows the death penalty.For his part, Aujjar revealed that the state is gradually showing an inclination toward ending the death penalty.“Morocco is not far from joining the growing global initiatives to abolish the death penalty,” he stated.

Hands off Cain is an international league of citizens and parliamentarians for the abolition of the death penalty in the world. It is a non-profit, non-violent, transnational and trans-national Partito Radicale founded in Brussels in 1993 and recognized in 2005 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a development co-operation NGO.